Exams

Important Links:

$119 exam fee paid the year the student tests, which is usually senior year

Diploma candidates

$443 fee paid junior year and senior year

Please note: If a student is enrolled in an IB course, the expectation is that they complete both the internal assessment section of the class AND the end of course exam in May. If they do not do so, they will not receive IB or honors credit for the incomplete course, and they will be dropped from the course at the end of the current grading period.

Diploma students must complete every course required for the diploma in order to graduate from the program. If a student drops one diploma class, they will be removed from the remainder of them and enrolled in other classes. Exceptions will be made for illness, poor grades, or extenuating personal circumstances. Certificate students must take at least two IB classes unless they choose to enroll only in World Language or Visual Art.

Students will be required to complete and sign a test registration form by November 1 of the year in which they test in order to be registered for the exams. Diploma and certificate students will also be billed in September for the exams they are scheduled to take in May. Failure to pay the bill by November 15th will result in not being registered for the exam(s). Diploma candidates have prepaid for their exams as a part of their $886 IB fee paid in two $443 installments at fee payment time prior to their junior and senior years. Current fees for certificate candidates are a registration fee of $172 and a per exam fee of $119.

Issuing of results

Students' results will be issued by IB in July of each year. Students will have access to these results online. Each student will need to use their pin number to access their results. Results will also be sent to a university (or college) of the student's choice. IB will send up to three transcripts without charge. Students receive their pin numbers in the fall of their 11th grade year.

It is important to keep in mind that this is, indeed, an international system. Therefore, the final marks students receive for each IB course they have completed represent how successfully they have meet IB's standards. These standards apply to students in over 3,200 IB schools all around the United States and the world. Shawnee Mission School District recognizes the additional rigor necessary in IB courses by awarding an honors-weighted grade to the final grades students earn in almost all of the courses identified as "IB" on students' transcripts.

Grades in IB courses are determined by using a combination of sources. Part of the marking period grades come from assignments, quizzes, and tests, which are generated and evaluated by the subject teacher at SM Northwest. In addition, each IB subject calls for the teachers to contribute a percentage of the final IB mark by assigning and then "internally assessing" IB-generated assignments and projects according to given IB criteria. The percentage varies from subject to subject, but generally, a teacher's "internal assessment" of IB-generated assignments accounts for between 20 and 30 percent of the final mark. For example, IB English and IB foreign language teachers assign and grade prescribed oral presentations; IB science teachers assess student notebooks of practical laboratory work; IB math teachers score prescribed portfolios or projects. The teachers' "internal assessment" marks for all IB subjects are submitted to IBCA in early April of each year. In addition, IBCA requires that each teacher submit samples of student work so that the teachers' assessments can be checked for validity against the published criteria.

In addition to teacher-generated and IB-generated "internal assessments," each IB course has official IB assignments and exams that are "externally assessed" by designated IB examiners around the world. This system is coordinated by International Baccalaureate Curriculum and Assessment (IBCA), headquartered in Cardiff, Wales. These "externally assessed" assignments and exams are considered "independent entities" and are not "averaged in" with or contribute to a student's official Shawnee Mission School District transcript and overall grade point average per semester. Instead, IBCA issues its own final marks and IB diplomas to those students who have successfully met the IB criteria. In other words, the IB assessment system is totally separate from the SM Northwest High School system.

Regrading of Exams:
At the request of the coordinator, IB will regrade an exam. The current fee for that is $103 and must be paid by the parent prior to the exam being submitted for regrading. There is a five week window from July 6th to Aug 17th during which exam regrades can be requested and paid for. After that time, the grade stands.